


Sharp Work Sharpshooter

by BetteNoire



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant to Season 1 - 2, Coran Coran The Gorgeous Man, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Groundhog Day AU, I can no longer say I have not watched the emoji movie because now I have, Initislly a one shot but fuck that, It was okay, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, There is a love confession Lance needs to make but to who?, There's a dream daddy reference as I've been addicted mately, buckle up for another feels trip kiddos this is gonna be worse, im not tagging it because spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-08 10:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11644620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetteNoire/pseuds/BetteNoire
Summary: "Happy birthday Lance."An endless time loop of the one day that made his sad miserable life worth living, his birthday, now had to be relived for the young Cuban boy until he figured out a way to end it.





	Sharp Work Sharpshooter

Even though he had long ago forgotten what time or day it was, Lance McClain was surprised when someone remembered the days and had thrown him a party for his birthday as a team effort.

"Happy birthday Lance!" Came the conjoined effort of everyone as he stepped into the main hall after he had been called there... And he thought they had forgotten. Maybe he shouldn't have doubted them.

As soon as he stepped into the room, Hunk swallowed him into a hug after momentarily letting go of the cake in his hands, frosted in blue frosting with white icing. It woobled before Pidge managed to get a stable grip on it with a goofy smile on their face. They winked at Lance while he was being bear hugged by Hunk. When Hunk let go, Pidge shoved him out of the way and dog piled Lance, cake in hands for all of five seconds before Hunk snatched it away.

The two toppled onto the floor, laughing and soon Hunk, after placing the cake in Allura's hands, joined in. All three sat in silence on top of each other for a while before breaking out in laughter. The three chuckled together before dusting themsleves off and climbing off each other. Lance looked around the room, eyes wide in amazement and surprise.

"You- you guys remembered?" He said, looking at everyone in disbelief. 

"Well technically there wasn't exactly no real way of knowing when exactly your birthday was as you humans use a different time system which would make translation hard unless we had an exact measurement to work with..." 

Pidge interrupted Coran with, "But  being your friends and teammates, we found a way!" They winked at him.

"More like you found a way, Pidge." Keith commented from where he was standing, with a small smile on his face that was quickly replaced with a frown. Typical Keith. 

Pidge smirked and nodded before pulling Lance in close and gesturing at Keith. They whispered to Lance, "We had to drag along Keith until we mentioned that it was for you." When he looked at them with disbelief, they had already began to walk off. 

He shrugged and looked around the room. It was decorated with blue banners and balloons that looked homemade and were labelled with, "For a very special boy" with a smiley face on the end. A speaker was set up and plays exotic music that could only be altean. If Lance had his music playlist he'd add this song, because alteans did know how to put together some good music. A small punch table was set out near the control panel with a few drinks as well as green goop. He walks over to the table and sees Coran putting the final details on what looks like another cake.

He tries to sneak over and leak over his shoulder but he has super sonic hearing or eyes in the back of his head or something so he turns around with a familiar smile on his face.

"Lance! There you are. I was just finishing another cake for you." He says with joy, holding out the cake. It doesn't look as profiessional as Hunks but he can see that the same amount of love was put into it. 

"Another cake? You shouldn't have, Coran, one was enough." He nods in reply.

"I know but I wanted to try out some methods of cooking! Hunk's an excellent cook and I've been asking for lessons. He's a great paladin and great chef! He's been giving me lessons so this is one of the things I made after a few!" Coran explained his reasons with glee and Lance couldn't help but think of his dad's enthusiasum for trying out different ways for delivering meals to his family. Sometimes he'd explain how he'd come up with the ideas while they ate and Lance couldn't help but listen with slight interest. His dad was always so happy in that aspect...

Coran noticed his smile fade and put his hand on Lance's shoulder. "Are you feeling alright Lance, my boy?" 

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine! Here have some cake. Cake makes everyone happy!" He grabbed a paper plate and carved a slice and put t on and handed it to Lance. "Cake is like chocolate, it makes you feel better and puts you in a good mood!" Lance laughed and tucked in. While it didn't taste the best, he could taste the effort and love in a way. It didn't distract him from the taste but it put a smile on his face.

"How'd ya feel?" He asks, putting a hand around Lance's shoulder. Lance feels like melting under his grasp in a way, but that was only a metaphorical way of melting. 

"Good. Did you make this yourself? It's really good." That comment puts the brightest smile on Coran's face.

"Why yes I did! I've wanted to try cooking for a while so Hunk gave me a few lessons. I hope my experience has shown!"

Lance smiles at him. "You should be proud of yourself, man. It's great."

"Thank you! I even made it without any assitance, so that means a lot to me, my boy!"

Coran looks like he's about to faint into the punch bowl when Pidge grabs his hand. They grin at him and drag him away. He sheepishly waves goodbye to Coran and he salutes. 

Pidge drags him over to the other table that was set up where Hunk and the other cake sat. He looked at the two in confusion for a moment or two. The three of them all exchanged a look before Pidge cleared their throat and pulled out a small tablet. By looking over their shoulder, he could see them typing in happy birthday into google translate. He stifled a giggle an Pidge glares at him and said "Well excuse me princess I'm not bilingual." 

"Fancy words for a gremlin."

He's certain that they would have decked him if it wasn't his birthday. It only takes a small while for Pidge to finish translating and so they put the tablet between them and Hunk before putting on the small translated button.

Then they started to sing/speak along.

Or more like two drowned rats tried to burn their vocal chord by singing two different things. Lance recognised the language as Spanish, but so badly translated that it's grammar had been mugged and tossed aside to die. A graphic metaphor that didn't come from Keith? Man, Lance really should stop letting that spicy emo boy infect his life. 

"Feliz cumpleaños a usted! Feliz cumpleaños a usted! Feliz cumpleaños querida Lanza."

Hunk grabbed the cake and Pidge pretended to set the cake's small makeshift candles on fire with magic before grabbing the matches and lighting it. He's unsure of whether or not they said "Let it rip!" under their breath or not but he's proud nonetheless.

When the two finally finish the song, the whole thing reminds him of all the birthday parties that had been hosted at his abuela's house. For his cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandmother or even himself, their was a party and a huge one at that. The repressed memory brings forth all his cousins smiles and singing voices and he realises how much that Pidge looks like they could be his cousin and that his four times removed uncle looks like an older Hunk. That last one makes him shudder.

"You look depressed Lance! Here have cake!" Pidge shoves the plate into his hands before grabbing one themself and stuffing their face. Hunk laughs at that and grabs a slice as well. The three all eat their cake with muffled laughter and giggles and Lance smiles silently to himself.

 When he finishes, he puts down the plate and walks back into the centre of the room. The altean music has such a nice beat that he can't help swinging his hips, Shakira style.

Well he tries to but he ends up falling over, right into the person behind him. And that person turns out to be the person that terifies him and could beat him up whenever without any effort but is still the purest, Princess Allura. He resists the urge to throw up on her dress, his main motive to avoid being killed.

"Princess!"

Allura gently helps him onto his feet. "Hello Lance. Are you just having a good birthday so far?"

He releases his finger guns. "It's even better now that you're  here." Allura laughs a bit at that which puts a small smile on his face. 

"The music's nice." He comments. Allies flashes an award winning smile at him.

"Why thank you! This is altean music from when I was growing up. My father used to play it at similar celebrations to the one we are doing today. But that's not the reason why I put it on. Since today is your birthday and you like music so much, I made sure to put songs that I knew you would like on the playlist!"

She laughs to herself. Lance feels honoured. She really did that for him? He feels much better in his self esteem now knowing that Allura really cared for him - even though he knows that she probably loved him all this time. (Not romantically of course - that was a stretch.) 

 In fact..." She puts her hands over his. "Do you want to dance? I think you like to do that." 

"I'd love to princess." 

"Call me Allura." She smiles before breaking out into a tango, moving in such a way, with her warm smile that it takes him back to dance lessons with his older sister. She'd put her hair up and teach him extravagant moves. At the beginning he'd struggled to keep up with her but as he got older the two went hand in hand with dancing.

Allura reminded him of those times, with her sharp steps and warm smile as they danced around to the music. As they wirled around he noticed that Pidge had somehow convinced Keith to come dance as well. Shiro and Coran had tarted an intricate waltz and Hunk was currently doing the worm. What kind of strange magic had altean music caused to combine all these dances? They did fit, but from an outsiders perspective it sounded rather strange.

When they finally worked to a stop, Allura went and grabbed two slices of cake. The two ate together and Lance felt at home. Allura was a great leader and friend. They were lucky to have her in all honesty. 

Lance got up to find the bin for his paper plate before realising that he had no clue where the bins were or if the ship even had them. So he decided that the next best decision was to dump it in Keith's hair.

That plan was thankfully foiled whenever he accidentally bumped into Shiro. Since his muscles were kinda big, it didn't hurt so his small ow quickly gathered the big teddy bears attention.

"There you are Lance!" 

"Hey Shiro." He winked at the older man. Or younger, considering that he was practically 6? Lance smirked at that, they would never stop bringing that up. 

Then something weird happened. Shiro engulfed him in a massive hug and leant into his shoulder. He blinked with shock for a moment or two before leaning into the hug. Shiro really was a huge teddy bear. 

Shiro leant into his ear and started whispering. 

"I'm proud of you, Lance. I am so so proud of you. I really am. You should be proud of yourself to for how far you've come and what you've achieved. You're a paladin of Voltron for a reason, let the world know how much you can be the best they've ever seen. But don't stress yourself out so much, okay? You have limits, Lance. You can push your boundaries but make sure that you won't kill yourself trying. Be happy with what you've already accomplished. Sometimes you've just got to step back and realise how far you've come."

The two of them stayed snuggled together for a while. Shiro's warth reminded him of the countless times that his mom had hugged him, his brother had hugged him, his sister had hugged him. All shared that familiar warmth and the feeling of love. And in Shiro's arms? Lance truely felt loved.

The comforting silence only broken when Lance commented "I honestly thought you would whisper something seductive but that was good to." Shiro glared at him for a split second before the two cracked up together. 

"Lance your sense of humour is something unique." 

"In a good way or a bad?"

"Honestly?" Shiro stopped wearing and looked him straight in the eye. "Both."

Lance looked at his idol and smiled. He really did have a weird sense of humour.

The two of them joked together, reminding Lance of Shiro's strange dad jokes and puns, before Lance set out to find the one person he hadn't talked to yet. Saving the best for last in a way. 

Keith Kogane.

Judging by his groan, Keith wasn't too glad to see Lance sidle up next to him. 

"What's up Cocaine man?"

Keith groaned. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Well excuse me princess I can't help it that your last name sounds like cocaine!"

"What do you want." Lance waltzed up and slumped against the wall in the same way that Keith was doing. 

"I know you've got me something, Keith my man."

"No I don't."

Lance pouted. "Come on man, you know I know that you've gotten me something!"

Keith seemed to shove his hands behind his back even further. "Stop pushing Lance, I'm not hiding anything."

"Of course you aren't." He replies. The two stand in silence for a moment or two before Lance lunges for Keith's hands and pull them to his front to reveal...

"Holt shit dude." Lance whispered as Keith held out the worst gift and the best gift ever. Well more like the worst/best three gifts ever. 

The first was a small DVD labelled "Hunting down Cryptids with Robert Small" with a large picture of a bearded man resembling Keith in a way running away from what looked like mothman. No wonder Keith had it in his possessions.

"I can't believe you're giving this to me, Keith. You love mothman."

Shiro sidles in from the side.

"Trust me, it took a lot of convincing for him to give it up."

Keith's face flushed and he sank lower to the wall. 

"Who's Robert Small?" Hunk asked,poking over Lance's shoulder.

Keith looked slightly offended for  second and ready to stab Hunk. Thankfully it didn't happen as Shiro put a hand on his shoulder and flashed a smile.

"He's a cryptid hunter that Keith looks up to. He hunts down cryptids ranging from a supposed cult leader, his vampire neighbour and himself at one point. Keith practically worships the man." Shiro is very good at embarrassing Keith, Lance notes, from the way his face flushed at what Shiro had said. He evilly grins.  

The second was a pair of minion socks. Pidge just straight up started weezing and collapsed on the floor. They actually managed to hit their head during their fall much to their surprise. That caused Lance to laugh but not as much as the gift had made him. 

"Holy shit Keith, minions?" Lance broke down with laughter. "This is the best birthday ever thanks to you guys." Keith smiled for a second before replacing it with his normal scowl. Lance smiled, Keith had finally smiled. Now that was an achievement - all thanks to minion socks! That thought set him off again, making him collapse to the floor. He would wear them with pride.

The third and final gift was something new and surprising all together. It was stellar, shocking and made Pidge collapse onto the floor yet again, bringing Hunk down with them this time. And Lance felt like joining them because he was in a state of joy, happiness and pure digest that made him so glad to be alive.

"Keith, oh my god I can't believe you got me tickets to The Emoji Movie in space." A wheeze came from Pidge on the floor and even Shiro chuckled. Keith looked like he wanted to melt into the floor and cry for an eternity.

"I don't know either." He whispered. "And I don't want to."

"We have to watch it later! How many tickets do you have?"

Keith shuffled through them.

"7."

Lance turned to everyone else in the room. "Guess what guys? You're coming with us to watch The Emoji Movie?"

"I have cervical cancer." Pidge chimed in.

"I'll leave again." Shiro said.

"I have food poisioning." Hunk said, initiating gagging.

"Sounds like fun!" At Allura's comment, everyone's head swirled to look at her.

"Allura is your brain melted?" Pidge asked. 

"I don't think she's even heard of the emoji movie." Lance commented. Allura shock her head.

"Please explain!"

"It'd be best if we didn't princess." Hunk replied. Lance repressed bad memories from the trailer, shuddering, before grabbing one of the tickets from Keith. Turning it over in his hands, he felt tears starting to prick up in his eyes.

He leant against the wall, crying so badly that he starts to hiccup. The team looks at him weirdly and he tries to explain his how he feels through hand motions. Unfortunately they don't speak exotic hand motions. 

So he sits against the wall crying happily. The others sit next to him and they all cry together. Lance feels at home. This may have been the first birthday away from his family, but he had another family right here...

And it was the best family he'd ever had.

The silence in the room was comforting, as the team all sat together until it broke not with a clang or a shatter but with an ear piercing alarm.

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanted a happy fanfiction you can stop here minus the last sentence because we're going downhill.


End file.
